Fortunately, the ´basin´ in which Mexico City is located, is one of the main areas of early settlements in Mexico (one could say it is the cradle of Mexico), so many ´big´ civilisations had important settlements here. There are several key sites worth visiting, each within a 2 hour return trip from Mexico City, so, off we went, having our first encounters with the Mexican country-side.
As we are on a sort-of budget, we had decided to do most of the travelling by public transport, eg undergrounds/tubes to the main bus terminals and from there by coach/private bus. And unlike their European counterparts, both these systems actually work - they are clean, fast, timely and cheap (2 pesos (= 10 pence or 15 eurocents) gets you all across Mexico City by tube and 50 pesos (by now you should be able to work out yourselves what this is in your currency) leaves you 60 kilometers out of town. Plus, in the bus they show movies, albeit more often than not in Spanish, which is not so useful for us two, that now manage to order food in Spanish and say hello, but that´s about it.....
Our first stop was Teotihuacan, one of the must-sees for every visitor to Mexico. Only an hour outside the centre, it is the first capital of the first really powerful endigenous tribe, which made their way to the area from the North. In a period stretching from 200AD to 900AD they developed into the main power, subjugating many of the other tribes around. Their civilisation, as with all others in this part of the world, was very theocratic, meaning that all aspects of life were ruled by the religion. A religion that was based on the belief that life as such was stolen from death (or, that light was tricked away from darkness), meaning that in order to sustain this, a lot of apeacement was needed. Hence, human sacrifices, mainly of conquered tribes, was one of the more important religious aspects, as was a ball-game called polota (a cross between football and volleyball) and the Sun and the Moon. And in order to place all these religious activities in time, they developed several calendars and an advanced form of mathematics, long before Western Europe did.
For those who wonder why this ´long´ digression into boring religious detail - these aspects are a key part of all subsequent civilisations in this area, so it saves us from writing them again. The main differences being that the bloodthirst becomes stronger (eg the need for human sacrifices) and the pantheon more complex.
Anyway, having said all of this, the Teotihuacanians (or Teotihuacanites, who knows) built a city that at its centre offered space to fulfill all the religious requirements. A city that at the top of its power housed between 120,000 and 200,000 people. A city that was disescted by a 3 kilometer long main road, along which all main buildings were located. Main buildings among which included multi-tiered pyramids to the Sun and the Moon that measured more than 50 meters high and more than 100 meters at the base and a ´citadel´ that was the main administrative area.
All of these have survived in some part, together with a sizable amount of smaller buildings, which combined leave a truly amazing view and experience - imagine walking the Champs-Elysees lined with the Pyramids and the Acropolis. Or something like that.....
The Teotihuacanes had also a religious area ´off-site´, in a place that is now called Cholula. As a guide described it, ´this was really the embassy of Teotihuacan´. Here they built several temples, the main on top of a 66 meter high, 350 meter wide pyramid. Today not much of it is left, other than a few steps, a massive ´hub´ and 8 kilometers of tunnel, of which a few 100 meters are open for exploring. Which we of course did. Now on the summit, there is a church. The first version built by the Spanish, who in their enormous urge to change Mexico into a catholic country thought this to be a suitable place.
Finally, after the Teotihuacanmen saw their empire implode, no-one knows exactly how, the Toltecs became the most important group. Their capital was in a place now called Tula. About 100 kilometers outside Mexico City, the site of the old city is only partially excavated, with pyramids and ball-courts for pelota now on show. On top of one of the pyramids are the Atlantes, 5 meters high stone pilars in the form of warriors, a great sight!
The Toltecs took over some of the religious aspects of the Teotihuacani and added their own twists to it. For example, in front of the pelota-fields they built platforms which would be adorned by the deformed skulls of enemies. Nice.....
The Toltec power didn´t last very long, after less than 100 years they were succeeded by the Aztecs, who built an empire from the area around Mexico City (the Templo Mayor being an important example) - until the Spanish came. And the circle is complete.....
Just to put you at ease - we did not only see temples (or their left-overs) - we also climbed them all. No, seriously, we did see other things as well. So there is Puebla, a city that may sound familiar to some of you (there is a Volkswagen factory there). It was described in our guide book as hardly worth the effort, but it being on the way, we decided to stop off anyway. And we didn´t regret it - a lovely colonial centre with a nice cathedral, many colonial mansions and a lovely small museum. And so there is Acatepec, a very small village we ended up by chance (as we missed our bus-stop, didn´t figure this out till later, couldn´t get across to the driver that we wanted to stop, resulting in a sightseeing tour of the countryside). The baroque church-facade covered in colourful tiles that is one of the prettiest in Mexico. And so there are Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, the two volcanoes we had seen from the plane, but which we now saw from much closer. Truly amazing, with one (we haven´t completely figured out which one yet, although Popocatepetl is the more active of the two, so the chances are that.....) continuously puffing smoke in a clear blue sky. Picturebook-perfect.
And that completed our trip around Mexico City. From here it is the Mayan way, on to San Cristobal and beyond.....
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